---
title: When they sent a message to me, I told them that I would not move my… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they sent a message to me, I told them that I would not move my people across the river, as I never thought they would fight against me, but now I am compelled to do so, as they have either killed or taken as prisoners nearly all the men, women and children of the town. Who acts: people, I. A s
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 78

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When they sent a message to me, I told them that I would not move my people across the river, as I never thought they would fight against me, but now I am compelled to do so, as they have either killed or taken as prisoners nearly all the men, women and children of the town.

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**Who acts:** people, I · **What happens:** send, tell, not move, not think, fight, compel · **To what, where:** message, me, people, river, I, men · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:7:78
# text = When they sent a message to me, I told them that I would not move my people across the river, as I never thought they would fight against me, but now I am compelled to do so, as they have either killed or taken as prisoners nearly all the men, women and children of the town.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	iobj	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
17	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	across	across	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	ccomp	_	_
30	against	against	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	compelled	compel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
42	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj:pass	_	_
44	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	either	either	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	46	advmod	_	_
46	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	conj	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	conj	_	_
49	as	as	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	_
51	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	54	det:predet	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
56	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	conj	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	conj	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | people | a message | me |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent message=Theme to i=Destination |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | I |  | people |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **move** *not said to happen* | would | I | my people |  | the river |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent people=Theme across river=Trajectory |
| 4 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **fight** | would | people |  |  |  |  | against me | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **compel** | present · passive |  | I |  |  | now |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 7 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **kill** | present · perfect · passive |  | people |  |  |  | either *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 9 | **take** | participle |  | all men and women and children of the town |  |  |  | as prisoners | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent man=Theme as prisoner=Attribute |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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